6: “...And even if they were returned they would revert to...

📌6: “...And even if they were returned they would revert to that which they were prohibited...” Finally, the verse briefly and expressively refers to the mysterious intermediate world, the ‘Barzakh’, and says: “...and, behind them, is a partition until the Day when they shall be raised up.” Note In the above verses, we read when the unbelievers are on the verge of death they will ask to be returned to the world, so that they can do good deeds in what they have left behind.

Some believe that the Qur’anic phrase, ‘fi ma taraktu’ (in that which I have left behind) here refers to the properties that are left behind from them as their legacy, which we usually call 'the estate of the deceased’. There is a tradition narrated from Imam Sadiq (as), which corroborates this meaning. He said: “One who does not pay (even) the slightest amount of his alms-tax is neither a believer nor a Muslim, and the words of Allah, the Exalted, is (that he says): ‘...My Lord!

Send me back again, that I might do righteousness in that which I have left behind ...’.” [^1] While some other commentators maintain that it has a more extensive meaning. They say that the Qur’anic phrase /ma taraktu/ refers to all the good deeds that one has abandoned. Therefore, the verse means that they would ask Allah to return them to the world, so that they can make amends for those good deeds that have not been accomplished.

The tradition that we have mentioned above is not contrary to this vast and conclusive commentary. Considering that these persons are repentant because of all the chances they have lost and they intend to make amends for all of them, the second comment seems to be more correct. The word ‘la‘alla’ in the Qur’anic sentence /la‘alla ’a‘malu salihan/ (“That I might do righteousness...”) probably indicates that these sinners are not absolutely sure about their future state.

They know more or less that this newly found penitence and their being on the verge of death might have caused this regret but if they were returned, they might perhaps continue to behave the same way they had before. The word /kalla/ is used in the Arabic language to indicate complete disagreement with the words of a speaker. It is, in fact, a word opposite to ‘yes’ which is used for acceptance.

Some have said that the word ‘kalla’ indicates a categorical rejection of the claim of the sinners that they would do good if they were returned to the world. Allah says: “..

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